The present invention relates to apparatus for dispensing thermoplastic adhesives.
Thermoplastic adhesives are used in many manufacturing procedures and are typically applied to substrates in a molten state.
Apparatus for dispensing thermoplastic adhesives are well-kown in the art, one such apparatus being described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,587,930 (Schultz et al.). Unfortunately, conventional apparatus such as that disclosed in said U.S. Pat. No. 3,587,930 require inconvenient periodic reloading of the apparatus with hot-melt thermoplastic adhesive slugs as molten adhesive is dispensed from the apparatus. Reloading of the apparatus disclosed in said U.S. Pat. No. 3,587,930, for example, is accomplished by unlatching the end of the slug holding chamber, manually inserting a replacement slug in the chamber, and relatching the end of the chamber. As a result of this reloading procedure, dispensing of the adhesive is interrupted periodically for significant periods of time, thereby resulting in a significant amount of lost production time and possibly adversely affecting the performance of the thermoplastic adhesive since the adhesive is allowed to cool during each reloading procedure. This reloading procedure is also susceptible to human error as the operator must assure that the end of the slug holding chamber is properly latched after each reloading procedure.